15 November 2011
After receiving the national nod of approval in the mid-noughties with their debut studio album Other Voices, Other Rooms, The Getaway Plan’s fall was as fast as their rise when they announced their split one year after the record’s release in 2009.
It was the full year of constant touring that took its toll on the once bright-eyed 17 and 18 year olds, the break up saw them join the ranks of many whose fast rise to the top is met by a swift fall that crushes potential longevity.
This month though, vocalist and guitarist Matthew Wright, guitarist Clint Splattering, bassist Dave Anderson and drummer Aaron Barnett mark their return with Requiem, a darker, less commercially accessible reincarnation that sees the band enter a creative phase, both sonically and lyrically. The album also marks their first with We Are Unified, the rebranding of long-time Getaway Plan advocates, Boomtown Records.
Over 11 tracks, the secret to Requiem’s success is unfolded in every puncturing horn section, every gospel choir undertone and every necessary pause that follows when Wright hits falsetto. It’s also in the album’s production where David Bottrill (Tool, Mudvayne) was brought in late during the recording with his mind set on the unconventional. This speaks volumes in tracks like S.T.A.R.S where sharp strings and echoing guitars match Wright’s sombre vocals early on, sounding even more elegiac when the Boys Choir from Sterling Hall School chime in later; or on the should-be-second-single Heartstone which makes pounding military-style drums seem apposite when laced with lyrics like, ‘it won’t be too long ‘til the end of the world.’
Phantoms could be the Streetlight of Requiem but the underpinning of transient chord changes take it to another level. The track is genius in its approach but detrimental for the same reasons; no matter how many Gotyes or Angus & Julia Stones break into the Australian commercial sphere after taking the road less travelled, most are ostracised if they don’t fit through the machine’s cookie-cutter cogs. Child Of Light is another example of this, where a plethora of sounds from string and wind instruments offer sparse and controlled nuances to the hovering soundscape.
Requiem could have been listed as a late contender among the top indie-rock albums of 2011, if it weren’t for one annoying oh-so-close misfire. The acoustic-led filler, Oceans Between Us upsets the calculated balance of rolling guitars and ascending vocals, disrupting the swirl of ingenuity nine tracks in.
Although an anticipated new sound was promised, Requiem doesn’t flow far from Other Voices/Other Room’s vein; a welcome rush of a reinvigorated trademark.
Requiem is out now through UNFD/WMA
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